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Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Renew our days as of old

A great comment about traditional Judaism from "Igor:"

I'm a graduate student in medieval Jewish philosophy. This kind of position was quite common among educated Jews in Spain, Italy and the South of France, including many in the rabbinical elite, and the Rambam comes quite close to it in the Moreh Nevukhim (Guide of the Perplexed). It's just an unfortunate fact that after the gerush from Spain and the rise of kabalah traditional Judaism became increasingly ossified. It's also unfortunate that some of the best philosophical writing by otherwise popular medieval authorities-Ibn Paquda, Ibn Ezra, the Rambam, the Ralbag-is no longer taught. In 13th century Italy they actually taught secular science and philosophy at yeshivot:

- Thanks.

One reason philosophy and science are no longer taught in Yeshivot is this: In the 13th century the facts of science and the facts of Torah were nearly identical. You weren't likely to learn anything in science class that undermined the old interpretations. Following the development of more reliable methods for acquiring information about the natural world, the facts of science and the facts of the old interpretations no longer coincide. Instead of disregarding the old interpretations, which to a large extent, were never "Torah" but simply deductions and interpretations based on bad facts, the Orthodox community has chosen to disregard the new facts (*). And as the Sages warned, one sin leads to the next. The sin of ignoring the truth leads, alas, in many schools, to institutionally sanctioned cheating on science regents, and to lies to Board of Education authorities about curriculum.

(*) The facts are disregarded when convenient. Flu vaccines, for example, which testify to the truth of evolution, aren't banned by the Orthodox, nor are any technologies which undermine traditional understandings of cosmology.

If it relates to Jews, Judaism, holidays, Midrash,Torah, halacha or anything similar, I probably have a post on it. And if I have a post on it, I probably have a good comment thread with great reader-provided information, too.

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Quotes

רֹאשׁ דְּבָרְךָ אֱמֶת קוֹרֵא מֵרֹאשׁ דּוֹר וָדוֹר עַם דּוֹרֶשְׁךָ דְּרֹשׁ
Your chief word is "truth"; You've called it out since the beginning. In each generation people interpret You [for themselves] and find [their own] meaning.

You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you odd. -Flannery O'Connor

“When in the afterglow of religious insight I can see a way that is good for all humans as it is for me—I will know it is His way.” - R. Abraham Joshua Heschel

I don't accept at all the quite popular argument that the press is responsible for the monarchy's recent troubles. The monarchy's responsible for the monarchy's recent troubles. To blame the press is the old thing of blaming the messenger for the message. -Anthony Holden

Said behind my back

"...he's trying to show that there are other facets to Orthodox Judaism. That we don't all think one way and vote one way. And he's occasionally entertaining when he's not being mean-spirited" [PsychoToddler]"

"He's witty. He's funny. He appreciates the ridiculous in life, and has no qualms about telling you when he thinks that you're being a moron" [Cara]

" I'm pretty sure [DovBear] is a really great guy who just wants to be able to ask questions and talk about things without the fear of someone claiming he's off the derech or on his way there." [Chaviva]